Charlie Cox Shares the Conversation He Had With His Friend Tom Hiddleston After Learning of His Return to the MCU

Charlie Cox played the character Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, in the Netflix series for three seasons. We didn’t know if or when we would be able to see him in the role again, so it was a super fun surprise when he appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home as Peter Parker’s lawyer. It paved his way back into the Marvel fold, and as Daredevil and the rest of the Netflix Marvel superheroes are headed to Disney+, we can expect to hopefully see him return to more projects as Matt Murdock.

Cox had a big secret to keep when he learned of his return, but he was at least able to confide in a good friend of his, as he’s a fellow MCU actor who knew what was up. Tom Hiddleston, aka Loki, was Cox’s first phone call after he was hired on to appear in No Way Home. He explained to ComicBook.com:

"One of my first phone calls, when I found out I was coming back, even though I was trying not to tell anyone, I was living in fear for two years of it being leaked, it was this big surprise. When I was on the set I was wearing the thing everywhere, blah, blah. One of my first phone calls, and I knew I could tell him because I also knew he knew, was Tom Hiddleston, he's one of my best friends."

Cox continued, "He said to me, and he was shooting Loki at the time, so he'd spoken to those guys, and he knew, and they knew we were friends, and all that stuff, so he knew about it. I spoke to him, and he said to me, 'Whatever you do, when the film comes out, you've got to sneak into the back of a theater, because it will go crazy.' And I remember thinking, 'No it won't.' It'll be nice to be there, but I think he's thinking what it would be like for Loki to appear in that moment, where the Loki fan base is unlike anything I've ever seen in my life."

Cox recalled the filmmakers crafting the sequence in a specifically timed way to allow audiences to realize what they were seeing before fully moving forward with the scene's dialogue.

"I didn't really believe it. When we were shooting the scene the creative decision was made, they were going to build in a moment for the fans to react before any lines were said. We had this shot with the cane, and then the camera comes around before I say anything. I remember them talking about it on set, and I'm like, 'I hope it's worth it, this is dead silent.' Anyway, the movie's coming out, and obviously, I'm not at the premiere, because I'm a secret, all this stuff. But I have friends at the premiere who text me and called me, and they were like, 'Oh, my God, it was a huge reaction.'"

Cox said in a later interview that after hearing about the reaction, he and his wife snuck into a local theater to see what the crowd would do in this scene, and it was dead silent. But I have to think that this was a total fluke because I know my theater went crazy when we saw Matt Murdock sitting at the table with Peter, Happy, and Aunt May! And again when Matt caught the brick and said that great line, “I’m a really good lawyer.” I wish he had been at my screening and stuck around to say “Hi” to the crowd afterward.

Hiddleston knew what he was talking about, Cox just got unlucky. But I am excited he’s back, and I can’t wait to see what he does next!